Professor Z
Professor Wolfgang Otto Zündapp (or Professor Z for short) is the secondary antagonist of Pixar's 12th full-length animated feature film Cars 2. He is the co-leader of the Lemon Cars, and the right-hand of Sir Miles Axlerod. He was voiced by Thomas Kretschmann who also played Wolfgang von Strucker in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Biography Professor Z is introduced on one of the oil rigs that has been owned by a group of lemons. He and the lemons have been secretly making a weapon that is disguised as a television camera, planning to sabotage Miles Axlerod's racing competition called the World Grand Prix. Before the weapon is loaded, Professor Z takes one last check, so to make sure it is secured correctly for the lemons' voyage. Just then, Grem and Acer show him the remains of secret agent Leland Turbo, who they had found hiding on the oil rig. Moments later, a shadow is cast on the ground, and Professor Z looks up to see Finn McMissile, who had secretly been watching them the whole time. Immediately, Professor Z orders the thugs to kill him. It has not been easy, but Grem, Acer and Professor Z soon believe that they have killed Finn, not knowing that Finn had actually faked his death. Soon, Professor Z and the lemons make their trip to Tokyo, to watch Axlerod on stage with the press in the National Art Center. During the World Grand Prix opening ceremony, the lemons find out that an American secret agent named Rod "Torque" Redline had been using a disguise while he was with Professor Z back on the oil rigs, and take him to their lair. At this point, Professor Z reveals to Rod that the lemons' weapon is an electromagnetic pulse emitter, which is designed to make Axlerod's unique fuel, allinol, explode when coming into contact. The lemons' plan is to use it on the World Grand Prix racers while they are taking part in each of the races. While he is explaining this, Grem uses the weapon on Rod, and Acer demands to know if Rod had given anyone a device with a photo of someone known to be their mastermind. Professor Z is able to catch Rod's reaction when Acer demands to know if Mater has the device, and orders the lemons to find and kill Mater, while killing Rod himself with the weapon on full power. After the first race ends, Professor Z and the lemons travel all the way to Porto Corsa to gather up for a secret meeting in the town's casino. Appearing on multiple televisions, the professor and the lemons listen to the mystery mastermind, who reminds them about when they were always laughed at, and mentions to them about planning to pay the world back by making several of the World Grand Prix racers crash as a result of their fuel exploding from coming into contact with the lemons' electromagnetic pulse emitter. This is to make the whole world go against alternative fuel and purchase regular oil, in which they will be forced to buy the oil from the lemons thanks to their huge oil reserve, so that the lemons will have wealth and power. Meanwhile, Grem and Acer are using the EMP generator to make a huge pile-up on the race track, resulting in Axlerod announcing to the press that the last race in London will not be run on allinol. Cheering for this, Professor Z and the lemons celebrate for their future. However, this is soon stopped when they hear one of the racers, Lightning McQueen, confirming that he will use allinol in the last race. With a phone call from the mastermind, Professor Z makes a plan to have McQueen killed in the last race. At that moment, they all spot Mater after his Ivan disguise turns off, and get ready to shoot at him. Mater is able to hold them off with his own guns that are activated by voice command, and escapes the casino to try and warn McQueen. However, Professor Z and the lemons manage to capture him, along with Finn and Holley Shiftwell, before he can get to McQueen. Professor Z and the lemons then travel to London to get ready for their plan, while also having Mater, Finn and Holley tied to the gears of Big Bentley. As the race begins, Professor Z, J. Curby Gremlin, Tubbs Pacer, Victor Hugo and Vladimir Trunkov all watch from inside a glass-fronted building, feeling excited as Grem and Acer prepare to kill McQueen with the electromagnetic pulse emitter on full power. However, McQueen does not explode, which is because Sarge had switched the allinol in McQueen's fuel tank with Fillmore's organic fuel. Unsure of why there was no explosion, Professor Z informs Grem and Acer that they must go to their back-up plan. Grem and Acer mention to Mater that the back-up plan is to have a bomb inside McQueen's pit explode just when he will make a pit stop. Mater is able to get free and rush to the pits to warn his friends, but Finn and Holley then radio him that the lemons have actually put the bomb in his air filter. At that moment, McQueen comes into the pits, feeling happy to see Mater again, just as Professor Z prepares to detonate the bomb. However, Mater tries to save his best friend by driving away, leaving Professor Z unimpressed. Moments later, Professor Z sees his chance once again when McQueen goes after Mater and grabs onto him. Professor Z then presses the detonate button, but sees on the remote that the bomb is out of range, because Mater activated his rockets, making him go at a high speed. Enraged, Professor Z repeatedly presses the detonate button, but to no avail. Just then, he notices Holley outside the window threatening to shoot at him, causing him to flee, while the lemon families decide that they have to go after Mater and McQueen. Trying to get away, Professor Z races through London and to the River Thames to get picked up by a battleship named Tony Trihull, just as Finn arrives and attaches his grappling hooks to the professor. However, as Finn tries to hold back, Professor Z gets the upper hand when Tony uses his magnet to pull the scientist toward him, also getting Professor Z's monocle stuck to the magnet. Eventually, Finn defeats Tony by releasing small explosives that stick to the magnet and kill Tony, making Finn able to prevent the professor from escaping. Getting tied up, Professor Z is taken to a spot where Finn, Holley, Mater and McQueen demand to know how to turn off the bomb stuck on Mater. The scientist mentions that the bomb is voice-activated, but also that it can only be turned off by the one who had turned it on. He also reveals that he did not activate it, and after asking everyone else if they want to try and deactivate, he gets tased by Holley, knocking him out. He soon gets arrested along with the lemon families, while Mater is able to figure out that the lemons' mastermind is Axlerod, who too gets arrested after he is revealed to be the one who activated the bomb. Gallery Trivia * Z's first name is Wolfgang and he is voiced by Thomas Krestchmann, who actually portrayed the MCU Villain and HYDRA Leader and Scientist, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. * Professor Z's name is from the German company Zündapp, a major motorcycle manufacturer. * In Cars 2: The Video Game, although Miles Axlerod, Professor Z, Grem, and Acer are bad guys, they are playable characters. ** If the player chooses to play a Survival mission and plays as Professor Z, there will be two Professor Zs, since the real professor appears in a helicopter controlling the electromagnetic radiation beam. * Professor Z is thought to be the main antagonist early on, but when Sir Miles Axlerod's evil plot is exposed, it turns out that Professor Z is actually the secondary antagonist since Axlerod had bigger plans, and he is Z and the Lemons' boss. However, Professor Z is the Heavy and the one who drives the plot, while Axlerod is the Big Bad, the one behind the plot. * The digits on his license plate are spelled out "BAD GA 58", meaning "bad gas". Category:Characters Category:Cars characters Category:Males Category:Villains Category:Scientists Category:Professors Category:Henchmen Category:Cowards Category:Rivals Category:Criminals Category:Vehicles Category:Pixar characters Category:Disney characters